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High Point child’s wish granted

High Point child’s wish granted

Make A Wish and Trevor Grant (left), help 4 year old Spencer VanSchoick dives a monster truck with a big smile into the parking lot of the Randleman Fire and Police departments on Sunday August 24,2014 in Randleman, NC. Spencer was picked up by Sgt. Micah Lowe of Randleman Police Department in High Point and bought to the Randleman Fire Department for a party and ride along in a Fire Truck and the Monster Truck. PJ Ward-Brown/The Courier-Tribune

RANDLEMAN — Four-year-old Spencer VanSchoick of High Point had a wish, a wish that was granted Sunday afternoon by local emergency personnel and the Make-A-Wish of Central and Western North Carolina.

Spencer, who is suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, wanted to ride in a police car, a fire truck and a monster truck. At a “Wish Granting” celebration in Randleman, Spencer had an even bigger wish granted. He, mom Jennifer, dad Wayne and sister Olivia are going to Disney World in Florida.

Jeff Wilhoit of Randleman was instrumental in connecting the Make-A-Wish folks with the Randleman police and fire departments who, along with Trevor Grant of Asheboro, aided in granting Spencer’s wish.

“Just as soon as I heard about it, I knew I could help,” Wilhoit said. “I called up Steve (the police chief) and Marty Leonard (the fire chief) and got them on board, but I was out of my area about a monster truck. I contacted Trevor who has a Toyota Tundra that is about 6 feet off of the ground. To a 4-year-old, that is a monster truck!”

Danielle Gram is one of Spencer’s volunteer Wish Granters with Make-A-Wish.

“Once Make-A-Wish receives a referral and confirms from the doctor that the child (ages 2.5 to under 18) indeed has a life-threatening medical condition, the wish can be determined,” she said. “We typically grant four types of wishes: ‘I wish to have …,’ ‘I wish to be …,’ ‘I wish to go …’, or ‘I wish to meet …’ Once the child’s ‘one true wish’ is determined, it goes through a series of approvals and then the granting. The average cost of a wish is $6,000.”

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience. Across the nation, Make-A-Wish grants a wish every 38 minutes. The Make-A-Wish Central & Western North Carolina, which includes the Triad and Randolph County, has granted more than 3,000 wishes since its inception in 1985.

“What I like about doing this, in the midst of what has been going on in Missouri and with all of the mistrust of emergency personnel, is that we can do this to make Spencer’s wish come true and hope that people see the good in our emergency services,” Wilhoit added.